BBC Trust

Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra were popular choices when travelling to work or at work to provide a musical accompaniment to the day’s tasks. However, Radio 2 also fulfilled this role to some extent – depending on the mood of the participants at the time. One participant also listened occasionally to Radio 3 and said that she greatly enjoyed listening to classical music when the mood took her, and felt that Radio 3 was an important part of the BBC’s network radio portfolio.

There was an acknowledgement that choices were somewhat dependant on the radio stations programmed into the car radio.

One of the participants tuned in to listen to the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 so as to catch-up on discussions regarding current issues. Others would switch on the radio to listen to news bulletins, if they became aware of a big news story, to which they’d been alerted either as a result of friends on social media, or through conversations with acquaintances, colleagues or customers.

Participants said that one of the incentives for listening to BBC radio stations (as well as watching BBC TV channels) was the absence of adverts and that this was one of the annoyances of listening to commercial radio stations. However, participants felt that it was good to have the listening choice provided by commercial radio stations.

Music was the pre-eminent incentive for switching on the radio as well as for switching from one radio station to another – if the music was no longer to the taste of the participants, then they would switch to another station.

One participant said that she would sometimes listen to Radio Cymru since she had attended a Welsh medium school and would listen to keep up her language skills, and when listening enjoyed the station’s music. None of those present listened to Radio Wales since they felt that it was somewhat light on providing music.

The three participants claimed they watched very little TV, with one expressing the view of them all in saying that “an hour watching TV feels like a wasted hour more often than not”. However, they were aware of, and watched some of “the BBC’s biggest programme brands”, such as Eastenders, Doctor Who and Top Gear. One participant also said that she absolutely loved the BBC’s documentary programmes, with nature programmes particularly appreciated. Comedy was also an important genre, with Family Guy mentioned in this context.

There were strongly divergent views on the BBC’s news and current affairs output, with some expressing the view that the BBC was always the first place to which to turn in terms of news of big events or breaking news stories, but others expressing significant concern about BBC News impartiality – as that participant said “it was the UK Government’s view that prevailed in the BBC’s news coverage of the recent debate in the UK Parliament about the RAF extending its bombing raids to Syria,” and said that she and her parents watched other news channels such as Russia Today and Al-Jazeera because they felt their coverage was less biased.

Some of the participants enjoyed listening to the news on radio, but others primarily accessed it on-line (or through their personal social media networks) and only turned to the radio or TV if they became aware of a big breaking news story.

When asked about how they accessed local news stories, all the participants said that their main source of local news was their own social media networks and one of them only very occasionally bought a local newspaper.

One participant said that she would often use the BBC iPlayer to find and watch the documentary programmes which she loved above all others in the BBC’s output. She really appreciated the ability to choose content by genre on the iPlayer, with a particular favourite being Factual programmes.

Others would access iPlayer content through games consoles, with one doing so through the Microsoft X-Box.

The level of awareness of BBC News and weather apps was low, and none of the participants had made any significant use of the BBC’s on-line learning apps and resources since primary school.

Two of the three participants made significant use of on-line media on-demand services such as Netflix, while another subscribed to Google Play and so accessed some BBC material by that means.

One of them said that he used YouTube extensively for both leisure and professional purposes and would often use it to find out how to do things.

One clear barrier to accessing the BBC’s on-line and on-demand provision was low broadband speed and this was a particular issue for one of the participants.

The Licence Fee was considered good value for money in comparison with other video services such as Sky or Google play, but all those present said they would still prefer not to have to pay it.  While they said that they didn’t use the BBC’s services extensively, they would nevertheless miss the Corporation were it to disappear.